RWBYFanon v5
RPG World of Remnant => The Vale Region => Topic started by: Metroidhunter on March 07, 2017, 06:00:21 PM
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Vivian braced her arms above her to block the staff that had been swung down towards her head. Her aura was low, but her opponent's was lower. Not wanting to let her sparring partner get away with the attack, she grabbed the weapon in one hand, holding it tightly in her iron grip before yanking to pull the other woman towards her. At the same time, she swung her fist towards her torso, successfully disarming her once the hit connected. In the brief moment that her opponent was stunned, she dropped the staff and pulled back her right fist again, sending a hard punch straight into the stomach of the other faunus. It was enough to knock her off her feet and onto the ground, where she tumbled for a moment before eventually coming to a stop.
"I win, again," Vivian said cheerfully, placing her hands on her hips and grinning widely. In response, the woman that she had been dueling simply frowned, shaking her head. Picking her staff up, she used it to help herself stand back up before brushing some dirt off of her white dress.
"This time, yes. If you get too cocky, I'll eventually catch you off guard, you know." At this, Vivian just shrugged, making the fox faunus frown even more. "Anyway... Doing anything interesting after this?"
Vivian nodded as she walked over to her jacket, continuing to speak as she put it on. "Mhm. Headed to the city in a bit. Going to meet up with someone. How 'bout you?"
"I'll be going there myself. Perhaps we'll run into each other again today." With that, the white-haired woman began to walk away, giving a short wave in Vivian's direction. "Be seeing you."
"Seeya." Soon enough, she was alone. Taking a glance around the arena, she made sure that nobody would be listening in before she reached into her pocket and pulled out her scroll. Her and Michael had briefly discussed hanging out that day, though seeing as they didn't have a solid plan yet, she figured it'd be a smart idea to give him a call and change that. And so, she did exactly that, going through her contacts until she finally spotted his name. With a tap, it started the call to his number, Vivian holding the device to her ear and humming as she waited for an answer.
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Michael shook the man's hand, his own almost surrounding it. After a few minutes of negotiation, Michael had worked out a deal with the owner of a smaller liquor store. The store would get a discount on wholesale purchases of products handled by the Vaktar Corporation, and in return the store would be used for Michael to receive liquor and packages from Atlas without it being shipped directly to his house. A beneficial relationship for all parties. Michael stood up, his head close to the ceiling in the small office. "It's good to do business with you, Mr. Princivalli. Have a good day." Michael said, buttoning up his suit jacket.
After a nod from the short, portly gentleman and a few signed papers, the deal was official. Michael was just a few steps outside the store when he felt his pocket vibrate. His smile dropped for a second as he reached inside his pocket, but came back quickly as he realized it was Vivian. He tapped the screen and held the device up to his ear. "Hello?" he said, keeping with formalities for phone conversations.
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Eventually picking up the sound of him answering the call, Vivian smiled. It hadn't exactly been a long time since they had last seen each other, but hearing from him was always nice. "Heyo," she responded, beginning to make her way out of the Beacon arena as she spoke through the phone. "It's Viv. You probably knew that. Turning a corner, she waited a brief moment before continuing. "Anyway, my practice is over. What are you up to? Hopefully I'm not calling at a bad time."
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Michael walked down the street a bit, slipping into an alley. He leaned against the brickwork, his jacket picking up a bit of dust from the wall. "No, you're good. I just got out of a meeting. You were saying you wanted to hang out today? My schedule should be free." he said, setting his briefcase against the ground.
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"Mm, yeah, something like that." Vivian chuckled a little. "I was gonna visit the fam today, figured maybe you could come? It might be weird, but it can't be too bad." Making her way across the academy grounds, she headed towards her dorm, talking all the while. "Anyway, you don't have to, but you're gonna have to meet 'em eventually, so... How's today sound?"
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Michael paused for a second, thinking about the implications of meeting her family. "U-Um...sure, I guess. I'm already in one of my best suits." he said. He took a second to think and scratch his head. "Hopefully I don't make an ass of myself."
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Hearing the mention of his attire, Vivian raised an eyebrow, not that he could see it. "You're gonna wear a suit?" It wasn't that odd, but at the same time, she had been expecting it to be a bit more casual. Oh well, she thought to herself. "Alright, I guess that works. As long as you're nice, they're not gonna hate you." She paused, humming for a moment. "... Also, I may have already told them that you're a giant. So they'll be expectin' that, at least?"
Vivian kept walking along as she talked, never quite stopping long enough to let him get a word in. "But anyway, you're in town now, yeah? I'm gonna head to my room real quick and then hop on an airship to the city. Think you could meet me there at the docks?"
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Michael reached across his body, grabbing the scroll with his left hand while digging in his jacket pocket with his right. He fiddled around for a few seconds, grabbing the cigar he had stashed in there. "Yeah, that's fine. Need a minute to cool off after the meeting, anyway. I'll meet you there." he said, proceeding to put the cigar in his mouth as he took the scroll in his right hand again.
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"Alrighty then, I think I'll let you go. I'm almost to my room, so I'll get ready real quick and then I'll see you there." While she probably could have kept talking on the phone with him, Vivian knew that they'd probably get to see each other sooner if she had minimal distractions. Asking him about his day could definitely wait until after they had already met up. "Seeya."
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Michael reached into his pocket, pulling out a silver lighter. "See you then, bun." he said, ending the call and putting the scroll back in his pocket. He cupped his hand around the end of the cigar to shelter it from the wind before lighting it. With the cigar properly lit, he grabbed his briefcase from the ground beside him and began to walk toward the docks.
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Hearing the end of the call, Vivian slipped her scroll into her jacket pocket, smiling to herself as she neared her dormitory. She wasn't in too much of a hurry, but at the same time, she was still eager to get there. Since she was no longer preoccupied with the phone call, the girl decided to start walking just a little bit faster, doing her best not to accidentally bump into anyone while on her way to her room.
Meanwhile, at the docks in the city, a civilian transport airship had begun descending towards the platform until it came to a stop. Moments later, a large group of people began to flow out of it, the crowd dispersing as they all started heading off into different directions. Among them walked a white-haired fox faunus, her attire and staff that she carried matching it. Stopping for a moment and glancing around with a disinterested look on her face, she eventually frowned and started walking again, seemingly unsure of something.
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Michael made his way to the airship docks, smoke steadily trailing above him as he went. His frame made him stand out from the crowd somewhat, although he was getting more used to being stared at in crowds. Finding a bench close to the landing area, he set his briefcase down and leaned against the back of it. He took to smoking his cigar and checking the mail on his scroll to help try to ease his growing tension at the prospect of meeting Vivian's family. Considering how well his family is liked outside of Atlas, there was always the possibility of it getting uncomfortable.
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It wouldn't take a good eye to spot the giant that had been sitting at the bench near the airships. The previously confused fox faunus was now focused on him as well as the briefcase next to him. For a moment, she stared, an expression of disgust growing on her face. Oddly enough, she began to walk towards him, putting on her best neutral look as she sat next to him without any invitation.
At first, she said nothing, intentionally making the situation a little awkward. Less than half a minute later, she looked over and up at him, still giving him a blank stare. "Why are you here? Really, we don't need people like you pulling shit here. Take it back to Atlas, where you're welcome." With that, she folded her arms together, watching him expectantly.
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Michael tried not to disturb the girl next to him. He really did. He did not need anything going wrong today. With one big drag of his cigar, he dropped it to the ground in front of him and smoldered it with his shoe. "Listen girl, I was doing just fine before you decided to get in my business. I know what you think of my family. I don't care. And I'm not going to leave." he said succinctly, hoping to end the conversation as quickly as possible.
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"I'm surprised that you haven't denied that your family has done bad things." Looking just a little smug, the woman didn't seem set on giving him an easy time, even though he hadn't really done anything wrong. For whatever reason, it was apparently her duty to reprimand him without even knowing if he directly involved in the matters that she had referred to. Clearly, she was outraged to the point where not much critical thinking was going on. Ignoring his attempt to end the encounter, she carried on berating him. "Although, I'm not surprised in the slightest that you don't care. I'd say that's pretty damn typical of someone like yourself."
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Michael sighed through his nose, shaking his head. "That's because my family has done some questionable things. And the reason I don't care about what you think is because you're clearly one of those people who just love to get in my face, try to demean me, throw bricks through my window, and berate my friends because of something someone else did. You don't know me. Don't pretend to." Michael said, keeping his calm demeanor while working hard to suppress his anger.
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Almost immediately after he finished talking, the girl balled her fists up and brought them to her eyes, making an exaggerated frown as she pretended to cry. "'Oh, woe-is-me, people don't like me because I associate with scumbags. They must be the wrong ones. Guess I'll just go wipe up my tears with my loads of fucking money while sitting in my mansion, doing jack shit.'" After the childish imitation of him, her face returned to its neutral state as she folded her arms once more. "Seriously, get off your high-horse. Sounds like the only person causing problems for you is you. Why not do something if you're so fed up with people treating you like shit right back?"
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Michael took the opportunity to stand up, reach into his pocket, and pull out another cigar. After taking a quick drag, he collected his thoughts and spoke, his back to the girl. "I am. I've dedicated my life to helping people. I could have gotten a safe job at corporate making an ungodly amount of money and not having to worry about a damn thing. But you know what I did instead? I gave up most of my inheritance, worked for my money, and am training to be a huntsman. So, what I do when people are callous and hurtful because of who I am is try to be as nice as possible, try to make them see reason, and if that fails-" Michael said, pausing for a moment at the end to turn and grab his briefcase. "walk away. Have a good day."
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The girl rolled her eyes and opened her mouth to speak again, probably planning to dismiss his argument yet again and follow with a bitchy remark. Before she could finish a word, a shout filled the air, coming from some distance away.
"HEY!"
While her friend had previously mentioned the possibility of them running into each other again, Vivian most definitely hadn't been expecting it to actually happen. To her, it was absolutely amazing. As she was looking at them from a bit of a distance, she was simply under the assumption that they had just happened to start chatting with each other. What were the odds of that happening? She didn't really know, but surely it was a low chance.
It wasn't until her brain decided to turn on that she noticed their expressions. Both of them actually looked pissed, or at least mildly upset. '... Oh, that's not so great...'
Giving a quick smile and a wave at Michael, she then looked at the other woman, keeping the same happy face as she waved for her to come over. The fox faunus was still sitting on the bench, looking back and forth between the two of them with a perplexed expression before she finally got up and started heading over to Vivian.
"Hey, Claire," she spoke in a somewhat low voice as the other girl got close, wanting to speak to her privately for just a quick moment. They weren't the best of buddies, and Vivian certainly wasn't the most clever person around, but even she knew well of her friend's abrasive behavior towards certain humans. "Are you by any chance harassing my boyfriend?"
The question that she had posed caused Claire to go wide-eyed before giving an almost disgusted look at Vivian. "Oh my god. That is him? Do you even know who that guy is? Seriously, why him?"
"Trust me when I say that he's not a douche. He's one of the nicest people I've met, really." Vivian looked over at Mike and gave him another short wave before turning back to her friend. "And I mean, come on, did you even look at him?"
Claire scoffed. "That doesn't change anything. He's a part of-" She was cut off as the rabbit girl put one of her metal arms over her shoulder, still smiling in an almost terrifying manner as she pulled her close with quite a bit of force. "You're my friend. And I know you're, like, on a crusade to be an asshole to people you don't really know. But seriously, I like him a lot, and if you mess that up by trying to run him out of town or somethin', watch out. I will actually break you in half."
The faunus was a little surprised when she heard it, looking dumbfounded. After a few moments, she pushed herself away from Vivian, giving her a very dissatisfied look. "Whatever, traitor."
Nearly laughing at the stupidity of it, she then shrugged and turned to head in Mike's direction, calling back to Claire who was also walking away. "Seeya, beotch."
Now that they were finally free from that nuisance, Vivian skipped over and stopped in front of Michael, looking up at him with an even wider smile than before. "Sorry about that, she's, uh... That's my friend Claire. She's real into all of that faunus rights stuff. Too into it. You good?"
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Michael was somewhat comforted by the arrival of Vivian. He quickly walked forward to try and separate himself from the white-haired annoyance for the sake of keeping Vivian out of the conversation. He stood still and looked confused as she moved away from him and beckoned the girl over. He answered her first wave with a half-effort one of his own, standing there somewhat nervously. He met Vivian's return by setting his briefcase down and picking her up in a hug. "Better now." he said, his mood improving as he held the embrace.
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"Good." Not minding in the slightest that she had been lifted off of the ground, Vivian returned his hug, squeezing him with a little more strength than intended. She looked down for a second before returning her gaze to his. "I'll be honest, I thought you wearing a suit to my house would be a little weird at first. But hey, you look great in it." As she finished, she loosened the iron grip that she had on him, though she made no effort to try and get out of his arms.
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Michael's ribs thankfully remained intact after Vivian's overpowered hug, Michael starting to get used to her forceful embraces. After holding her for another second, he put her back down on her feet. "Well, I'm living proof that you can make anything look decent by putting it in a good suit. That's why I have you. You've got enough beautiful for the both of us." he said, smiling as he picked up his briefcase.
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After landing on her feet, Vivian began to rock back and forth on her heels, never quite able to hold still for even a few seconds. "To be fair, I think you could wear a trash bag and still look handsome." She gave him a playful nudge with her elbow as she said it before resting her hands on her hips. "I'm glad you decided to come. I can promise you, my dad is totally nice. He might mess with you a little, but seeing as you're not a dick, I'm sure he'll get to liking you." Vivian looked around at their surroundings briefly, seemingly having remembered a minor detail. "But, uh... Would you happen to have that limo nearby anywhere? I didn't exactly plan out a way of getting there, unless we wanna walk."
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Michael started walking away from the docks, keeping pace with Vivian's energetic walk. "Unfortunately, it is Charles' day off. I could call him in, but I think I'd rather walk than take him away from his anniversary dinner." he said, taking a second to brush some of the dirt from the bench off his back. "Besides, the weather's wonderful."
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As mean as it sounded, Vivian couldn't help but chuckle a little at the idea of someone getting called into work during such a celebration. It would take a real dickhead to do that, and thankfully, Michael was not that kind of person. "I don't mind, it isn't way too far away from here." The rabbit faunus took a few more steps before beginning to slow down, eventually coming to a halt as she considered something. Looking up at him, she brought a hand to her chin for a moment, then smiled.
"Don't feel like you have to say yes to this, but... Hey! How would you feel about letting me sit on your shoulders? Maybe just for a little bit, if you get tired. But I'm, like, totally not that heavy anyway. Whaddya say?" After all, she was nowhere near his height, so she had a bit of curiosity as to what everything would look like from up there.
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Michael stopped for a second, scratching the side of his head. "Um, well, yeah. Sure. I guess." he said, increasingly unsure of the idea as he looked around. He couldn't help but blush a little as he realized he was in public with his girlfriend. After the public argument, it took a minute for reality to sink back in with him.
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The moment he agreed to let her do it, Vivian pumped one of her fists in the air a little, excited that she was going to be able to give it a shot. It had been far too long since she had gotten to ride on somebody's shoulders, and who better to do it on than Michael? "Awesome. You might wanna hold still now, 'cause I'm just gonna jump up."
With that rather poor warning, she walked behind him and took a couple steps back, closing her eyes for a second as she actived her semblance. In an instant, a large bubble of aura had formed a couple feet in front of her. Much like she had done during their first fight, she dashed forward quickly and stomped on the bubble with both feet to bounce off and propel herself into the air. This time however, instead of decking him in the face, she had jumped just above his height before plopping down right onto his shoulders. There was a brief moment of panic as she attempted to get her balance without grabbing his head, but she had soon managed to level her weight out by raising her arms.
"Heyooo, it worked." Putting one hand above her eyes comically as she surveyed their surroundings, she soon looked down at him with another big grin, though he likely wouldn't be able to see very well. "Wow! You get to see a lot from all the way up here... Is this what it's like to be a giant?" Vivian was quite obviously enthusiastic about it as she spoke, giggling afterwards. Unlike Mike, she didn't appear concerned in the slightest that she was now sitting on top of his shoulders in public. As usual, she was easily able to ignore the attention that she had accidentally brought to the both of them.
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Michael turned his head once he no longer had Vivian by his side, getting blindsided by the leaping girl. "Oh God." he muttered, stumbling forward for a second as they got their balance. Once he got his footing, he looked up, managing to only see one of Vivian's ears as she looked around. He stood still for a second, his entire face beet red, before walking forward again. "At least when I want to know what it's like at your height, I can just sit down." he said, hoping that the humor would alleviate some of the awkward tension that only he seemed to feel at the moment.
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In response to his jab at her shortness, Vivian lightly flicked him on the top of the head, making sure to limit the strength that she put into it to avoid actually hurting him. "So rude." Despite pretending like it had offended her, she couldn't help but chuckle a little, giving away the fact that even she found it to be funny. "Make fun of me all you want. But know that I'll get back at you, as soon as I can actually think up good insults." It wasn't until she looked down again that she had noticed his blush, and in a fashion that was somewhat typical for her, she felt the need to make it worse. To her, it was only fair after the joke he had made. "But hey, I love how tall you are. Big, cuddly, and adorable." As he carried her on his shoulders, one of Vivian's fingers began to play with his hair, the faunus smirking as she awaited his reaction.
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Michael tensed up for a second as she started playing with his hair, causing a bit of a shift in balance. After regaining his footing, he kept moving forward, the blush never leaving his face. "You're lucky you're so cute, or else I would have thrown you to the ground twenty feet ago." he said, suddenly thrusting his shoulders up to cause her to bounce.
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Startled a little by his sudden movement, Vivian then laughed, deciding to stop what she had been doing with her hand. Instead, she began to tap on his head with both hands like a drum out of boredom, though she was doing her best to do it lightly to keep it at a non-annoying level. How effective that was, she didn't know.
"If you tried to throw me, I'd probably take you down with me." While looking down at him, she spotted his briefcase, a reminder of what he had been doing earlier that day. "So, you had a meeting today, yeah? How'd that go?" Vivian still didn't know a whole lot of details on what exactly it was that he did. Really, she was just glad that it let her see him in a suit on a regular basis.
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Michael had just managed to get back into a steady pace when he felt a hard thumping on the top of his head. After a few seconds of this, he put his hands on her rear and shoved hard, propelling her into the air. Taking a step forward, he caught her with his outstretched arms, holding her in a princess carry. "Vivian, please don't do that again." he said, his heart clearly going fast in his chest after the sudden movement.
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Vivian didn't actually believe him at all when he had said that he would throw her, so she hadn't prepared herself in the slightest. When she was suddenly shoved off of Mike, she felt a brief moment of panic until she landed in his arms. For a second, she looked dumbfounded, before she looked up at him and grinned widely. "See, getting carried like this was my plan all along. You've been fooled!" It was obvious that she was full of it, and she knew that, but she didn't stop smiling. Now in a rather comfy spot, she began to relax again, folding her arms and finally holding still for once. "Anyway, I'm, like, fine right here. Back to what I was sayin' before." She kept watching him, awaiting the answer to her last line of questioning.
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Michael sighed, his heart finally settling down. "You're impossible,
Vivian." he said, continuing down the road. For the amount of time they've been going, they have made shockingly little progress. "I managed to secure a working relationship. Hopefully, this keeps people away from my new address." he said, carrying the girl down the street.
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Vivian started to get a little too cozy in his arms, closing her eyes briefly as they walked along and chatted. It probably- definitely looked odd to anyone around them, but she still kept calm. With their differences in height, their relationship would seem weird to most anyway, so worrying about trying to act normal was pretty much pointless. "Hey, that sounds good." She didn't know what else to say about his work, as she didn't really understand it fully. Perhaps that would be a place to start. "What other kinds of things do you do, if anything? I know you make deals with people and stuff, but is that it?"
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While Vivian managed to ignore the attention the two were getting, Michael could not help but notice the looks multiple strangers were giving them. He was embarrassed, and just focused his attention on looking down toward his shoes. Thankfully for him, it was a very good view. "Well, with me moving here for my schooling,
the company tasked me with aiding the expansion into Vale. Problem is, there's been a shift in upper management. I've found myself with a lack of work from here because of it." he said, looking down at Vivian with a slightly red face.
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"Mhmm. That sounds kinda shitty." While Vivian knew that his situation didn't sound like a great one, it was still difficult for her to relate to. She had never really held any sort of job, as it had never been necessary for her to do so. She briefly considered asking him about open positions at his company, but it quickly occurred to her that she had absolutely no qualification to work there. "It doesn't seem like you're having money trouble from that though, so I guess it's not too bad."
Looking up at him, Vivian noticed the look on his face, before making a wild guess as to what he was embarrassed about. "If this is weird, I can like, totally go back to walking. I don't mind." She definitely wasn't against being carried, but at the same time, she had no desire to make him uncomfortable.
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Michael just sighed, shaking his head as he put on a small smile. "At this point, I don't think it'll matter much. And we're most of the way there anyway." he said, looking down at Vivian. As much as he tried to play it off like it didn't bother him, he still did not look up to see the looks people were giving him. "Any I have a contract with the company. I get a downside guarantee,
and they pay for my housing. It's not nearly as much as I could be making, but I'm not complaining." he said, hoping that the switch of topics will get both of their minds off the people around them.
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Seeing him smile brought Vivian to do the same once again. Of course, he had moved on from the previous subject before she could say anything, quickly distracting her from commenting on it. It wasn't until after he mentioned his freely provided housing that she spoke up again. "Man, that actually sounds like a bit of a steal. Free housing? Shit, I'd take alone that any day. Though... I guess you kinda have a reason to expect more, 'cause you are sort of part of the family that runs the place."
It didn't take too long for them to reach the residential area where she had told Mike that her father lived. Despite the fact that he was supposedly more on the wealthy side, it looked like your average middle-class neighborhood. Lots of houses close to each other, all of which had fairly small amounts of property. From her spot in Mike's arms, she pointed at one home in particular with one of her metallic fingers. The only thing that really separated it from the other houses in terms of appearance was the fact that it had a much larger garage. "That's it. Nothing grand, I know, but you ought to know that we lived in a bigger house before. After I moved to Beacon, I guess he decided he wanted to sell his big empty house. Can't say I blame him, really." While she planned to get down at some point, they still weren't at the door, so she didn't see a reason to bother asking to be put down just yet.
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"I didn't take the contract for the money. I want to help get the company to a good spot before my brother takes over." Michael walked to the door of the house she pointed to, finally looking up to see the size. "Well,
it makes sense. My house is probably too empty for my liking, and it's about the same size as this one." he said, standing on the porch of the house.
He looked down to Vivian, who was still in his arms. "Are you gonna hop down now, or are you trying to give me a challenge with this whole 'first impression' thing?" he asked, looking at Vivian and raising his eyebrow.
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After his comment, Vivian went ahead and hopped down, briefly looking off balance as she landed. Once she was steady again, she shrugged. "With the way that you're dressed, I think it'd take a lot more than that to make you look bad." Giving him a brief smirk, she then turned to the door, lightly knocking on it with the back of her hand. After a few seconds of no response, she began to rock back and forth on her feet, already growing impatient. "Hmm..."
This time, with her hand balled into a fist, she hit the door again, making a much louder impact. Any harder and it probably would have cracked. Apparently, the second attempt had been loud enough to warrant a slightly muffled response from the other side.
"Just... wait, dammit."
Despite the tone of the comment, it only made Vivian chuckle. Some seconds later, the door finally unlocked and open. Behind it stood a man that, while easily reaching six feet tall, still had to look up to get a proper view of Michael. Unsurprisingly, the look on his face was one of skepticism. It took the force of Vivian jumping into him and wrapping her arms around him to distract him for a moment. "Hey, kiddo."
Right away, it would rather be obvious that the two had barely any resemblance. The top of his head was shaved, but the hair of his beard was dark. His skin was pale, and while he wasn't exactly fat, he was definitely a little on the heavy side.
His gaze soon turned back to Michael again, though he gave a light smile this time. As he extended his arm for a handshake, the one feature that they had in common was made clear. While his opposite arm was whole, the one he held out was made of metal, the prothetic looking larger but somewhat less advanced than the ones that Vivian possessed. "Good to meet ya'."
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Michael watched the two of them with amusement, running a hand through his hair to smooth it out. He took a brief second to look down at the man's prosthetic before giving him a firm handshake. "Likewise. Vivian hasn't told me much about you. I figured I would get to see the man himself." he said, reciprocating the friendly gesturing the man had given him. He also knew to throw a little attention toward Vivian, if nothing else to give the man a glimpse of how they interacted.
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"That's surprising. She never shuts up." In response to that, Vivian gave him a light punch, though he hardly reacted. "Anyway, you can call me Dwayne. It's Michael, right?"
Turning to head back into the house, he waved for both of them to follow. Much like the exterior, the inside looked incredibly plain, almost entirely lacking in decorations on the walls. There was a decent amount of furniture, though none of it looked like that of a wealthy person. "I've gotta go finish up dinner, so I'll be in the kitchen. Ya'll can wait in the living room if you want." With that, he walked off into another room.
Vivian plopped down on the nearest couch, closing her eyes for a couple seconds before she looked over at Mike and patted the spot next to her. "See what I mean? He's like, totally nice."
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Michael simply nodded to his question, following the man into the house. He quickly looked around the room, noting the lack of decoration on the walls. When he sat down next to Vivian, he was so wrapped up in his own thoughts that he sat down quite hard, the couch bouncing Vivian up a fair amount. "Oop, sorry." he said, looking down briefly. "I had suspected as much. Although, if my mother saw my house with this lack of decoration, she'd have a coronary."
Michael absentmindedly began to put his arm around Vivian, but quickly pulled his arm back when he remembered the company he was in.
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"Hm, maybe next time we'll have to do something like this with your parents. It'd probably be, you know... different. But I've gotta meet 'em eventually." Despite not reacting much to the shift caused by him sitting down, she did frown ever so slightly when he pulled his arm away, though it quickly faded. Taking a brief look around the lackluster room, she then rested her elbow on the arm of the couch, propping up her head with her arm. "I will say, I am a little disappointed my brother didn't decide to stop by. We're not awfully close, he's not around much. But I'd still like the two of you to meet sometime as well."
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Michael crossed his leg, his large frame meaning that his foot extended just past the arm of the couch. "If he is ever around, I'd be glad to meet him. I mean...Anyway, do you know what your father is making for dinner?" Michael asked. As it turned out, the part of his head that is good for business meetings is not very good for making small talk. He took another look at the door to the kitchen, as if expecting her father to burst through at any moment and start chastising him.
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Vivian shrugged. "Smells like... burgers? Hopefully it is, because that's about the best thing he can make. You'd think with all that money, he'd pay for a cookbook..." Much like Michael had been expecting, her father suddenly entered after the comment, giving her a look of mild annoyance. Rather than chastising Mike, his retort was entirely focused towards her.
"You're one to talk." His gaze shifted over to Mike for a brief moment, giving him the slightest of smirks. "Don't be askin' her to make you a meal anytime soon, anything she cooks will kill you."
Getting a little peeved at the fact that she was now being dissed in front of her boyfriend, even if she did deserve it, she attempted to make a comeback. "Uhh, at least I'll admit I don't have that sort of talent. That's why I buy all my food instead of trying and failing."
"You lack that talent 'cause you don't have the patience and the attention span to keep at it." He pointed at her accusingly. "And you spend my money instead of trying anything more than once."
At that point of his, Vivian could only shrug, as if she believed that spending like that was unavoidable. Taking that as a win, he walked out of the room, heading back into to the kitchen as he changed the subject. "Food's ready."
Returning her attention to Michael, she smiled up at him, hoping that he wouldn't think much of their bickering. "I would have had him get us something nicer, but I kind of told him you were coming last minute. Sorry." Standing as she spoke, the girl made her way towards the dining room connected to the kitchen, still looking over her shoulder to make sure that he followed. Seeing that her father was making their plates already, she went over to the table, pulling out a chair before sitting in it.
-
Michael stood up and followed Vivian out of the room. "I'm totally okay with burgers. It's been a long time since I've had something home-cooked." He said, taking the chair next to Vivian. "And besides, I'm sure you're still a better cook than me."
Michael took off the jacket to his suit, putting it on the back of the chair he was sitting in. After adjusting the sleeves of his shirt, he sat very properly and upright. Michael then tucked his briefcase underneath the seat of his chair to make sure that it fit before pulling it onto the table and opening it. "I also brought this." he said, popping off the back panel of the large briefcase to reveal two wine bottles.
-
Vivian watched with intrigue as he opened the briefcase and showed the drinks that Michael had brought, clasping her hands together with a wide grin on her face. "Awesome." Unlike him, she sat with a slouch, leaning against the table with both of her arms to support her. It wasn't until her father walked over to the table and placed her plate down in front of her that she leaned back against the chair.
Taking a look at the bottles of wine, he nodded a little, handing Michael his plate before putting down his own at the spot across from them. He then took his seat, letting out a small sigh before opening his mouth to say something. Strangely, before he could get a word out, Vivian scooted her chair back and stood up. "Oh! Gotta go to the bathroom, be right back!" With a knowing smirk, she skipped out of the room, disappearing around the corner in an instant. What she had really been doing would be rather obvious to both of the two remaining in the room. The thought of Michael and her dad being left alone together to chat briefly was a thought that had entertained her, and as such, she decided to make that happen.
Of course, her father was no stranger to her antics. Letting out a quick chuckle, he shook his head, not yet getting to his food as he looked up at Michael. "Quite the piece of work, ain't she? Could have at least given you a warning before abandoning you like that."
-
Michael watched in slight disbelief as Vivian suddenly got up and ran from the table, abandoning him to sudden solo small talk. "Yeah...although, I've basically come to expect it at this point. I've learned that doing these kind of things amuses her." he said, taking the two bottles out of his briefcase.
After setting both bottles on the table, he put his briefcase on the ground and started to arrange his dinnerware so that it was nicely aligned with the table. "So...considering she's probably listening in right now, is there any embarrassing secrets you want to divulge about her, because I can only make fun of the short thing for so long." he said, showing a slightly devious smile.
-
"I would tell ya, but she doesn't really have any shame. I guess that's on me." Chuckling for a moment, he scratched his beard, obviously trying to think something up. Seeing as Vivian hadn't returned after what Michael had asked about, it was unlikely that she was listening in. "Though you could mess with her pretty easily." Raising his left hand, he tapped a part of his right metal arm with one finger. "There's a small panel on each of her prosthetics, with a compartment under it used for inserting dust, as well as basic maintenance. Flip it up, there'll be a few buttons. Press the one closest to the dust cartridge slot, and the limb will detach." At the thought of it, he let out a bellow of a laugh before calming down shortly after. "Oh, man... I've not done it, but if you were to surprise her with that? It'd be priceless. And if you held it above you, well, I doubt she could jump that high."
-
Michael gave his own hearty chuckle, looking over the mechanism on the man's arm. "Hmm...that would be spectacular, but she might break my jaw again for that one." he said, seemingly weighing the options in his head. "And besides, I could hold them at shoulder level and she couldn't reach them. I've almost run into her a few times because she stood in front of me and I didn't see her."
Thankfully for Michael, things seemed to be going smoothly for him in his first conversation with Vivian's father. It was nice to have one common experience, namely messing with Vivian and laughing at the results.